After a decade of strong growth during which it launched a slew of successful online services, Google is now going back to its start-up roots. In pursuit of that goal, co-founder Larry Page will take over as Chief Executive Officer from Eric Schmidt. The primary task before Google is crisply summarised by Mr. Page: to be a big company with the nimbleness, soul, passion, and speed of a start-up. That is a clearly articulated vision and it can attract many young engineers to the search engine giant in its quest for new strategies for development. Financially, the company has been achieving robust revenues and profits. In the quarter ended December 31, it made a net profit of $2.54 billion, up from $1.97 billion for the same quarter a year ago. Its revenues stood at $8.44 billion, representing a 17 per cent year-on-year increase. The company has a market value of $200 billion. With such a financial base to work on, Mr. Page will take charge of day-to-day operations and lead product development and technology strategy, while Mr. Schmidt, as Executive Chairman, will focus on business partnerships, government outreach, and technology thought leadership.
The ‘triumvirate' leadership model, comprising Mr. Page, co-founder Sergey Brin, and Mr. Schmidt, has helped Google produce several innovative web-based services and develop online advertising. By agreeing to clarify their roles, the top management has paved the way for clearer responsibilities and greater accountability, as Mr. Schmidt says on the company blog. A creative combination of its technology and business visions will be vital to its future, as the mobile web grows in importance. A good beginning has been made with the launch of the highly successful Android operating system for mobile devices. By offering an open collaborative model for development, it has attracted many mobile handset makers and its market share is increasing. Moreover, Google has come up with a version of the Android operating system optimised for use in tablet computers. Taken together, tablets and ‘smart' mobile phones are key to an expanded online search market. An informed forecast puts tablet sales for 2011 over 44 million units. To place this in context, tablet sales stood at 4.8 million units in the third quarter of 2010, with Apple's iPad accounting for nearly 90 per cent of the shipments. This trend is a clear indicator of the potential for growth in search-linked advertising, which is Google's forte. ‘Smart' television is another area of upcoming competition, where the web is a searchable channel on the bigger screen. With the attributes of an agile start-up, Google can kick-start a fresh round of innovation in all these areas.
Keywords: Google, company reorganisation
I think the changes are more to do with clearly defining the roles of the top guns at Google. The roles mentioned might have been taken up sometime back and must have been formalised now. But the way the 3 functioned together is remarkable. As far as the future of smart phones is concerned, I think it's a very new market and nothing can be assumed. There is no surity as to who is likely to be the leader among smart phone makers. Apple has been the leader of the market hitherto but as the market expands and more alternatives materialises before the customer, a lot may happen that can change story completely. But certain things are very likely. Apple is not going to lose its hegemony in the near future. It's iPhone and iPad are not just products but brands in themeselves. Google only has Android the operating system but no proprietary smart phone as such. However, given the competence of Google, it is safe to assume that it will be one of the most preffered OS for mobile phones and tablets. Microsoft and Nokia have come together but the partnership may not be that good. There are some uncertainties. As critics say Windows Phone has to evolve a lot before it reaches the level of Android. Moreover, there is no surity that Nokia brand will click in smart phones market or not. Smart phones as a category have an all together different perception as compared to mobile phones. Moreover, it may also happen that a lot many players enter this marekt and complete hegemony may not be possible.
After years of acquisition, maybe it is time for Google to focus on integrating its products. This means Google needs stronger product innovation and development. In the eyes of the investment community and in those of the companies that Google has acquired, the founder (Mr Page) could fit this new role @ Google quite well.
Google has really made the life of every human easier, Its tough to imagine life without googling:)
Google has a great entrepreneurial spirit and unique leadership model which is exemplary and highly inspirational.That's why GOOGLE finds itself among the best places to work and one of the most sought after companies for employment.India is also waiting for such an innovative company which is homegrown.There were many search engines launched before Google but were not successful.Google's success lies in its unique and innovative business model founded by Stanford students during Doctorate studies.Still, no innovative compny has been able to has break the monopoly of Microsoft.
Now the onus of growth is on Larry Page. Google has achieved a niche in web world and I strictly believe many of the software engineers earn their bread and butter because of this giant search engine. Its good to see that this company is not alone at high end, facing challenge from facebook. As we know competition among giant companies always bring good to netizens.
Google still possibly the most sought after internet search engine in all the developing and 60% of the developed countries. So there is no need to panic for the officials and employees that soon yahoo-microsoft combo can pose to be a serious threat to it's business. With the advent of new social networkig sites like the google-chrome it is expected that Mr. Page will rule the cyber world as an invinsible conquerer.
As the statistics say Google has been progressing as a business in the recent past. The success of Android Operating system has been a great achievement to its fold. In spite of growth ,Google has not been able to sustain the competition put forth by Facebook in social networking business. Google has come up with the inception of Orkut in the market but the evolution of the same to sustain the competition missed. Products like Gmail and Google search still rules the market but still the new administrative and management team will have to evolve ideas with changing time.
Google still holds about 86% of the search engine market. The mobile device/OS and intelligent TV markets are just in infancy. The article forgot to mention the advertising market. Google has done some key acquisitions in advertising domain and rules that domain too. Glad to see the visionary in Mr. Page's getting "nimbler". Google is all set to continue as the "most powerful" leader for many many years to come. I would compare Google to the century old giants such as Coca-Cola, AT&T and IBM etc who were quick to envision the future markets and kept themselves on the top. The "open"/"free" world of software is just a bait.. Users are not wary sharing their details and are not much concerned getting tracked or having their web-behavior profiled. TV and mobile are just another source for such data. With computing getting faster and the and storage getting cheaper, time is not far when this data will prove platinum to Google. The old school marketing/supply chain/consumer products industry is already in a midst of a revolution and a lot more is going to come. It's fascinating to imagine the possibilities.
At this point, Google stands out as a company that has the grit, expertise, funding and leadership to continue as the market leader in our generation.
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